Two Police Suspended After Putting Elderly Protestor in Hospital

[Steven Yeadon]

There was an immediate call for aid, and others were rendering aid within 15 seconds. Paying attention while the video plays will clearly reveal this.

Also, there was at least one person being detained at the same time in the same vicinity. Coordinated action to maintain the situation was required.

Post #39 is my adjusted position after hearing about the aid rendered by medics and after discussing this in depth.

 

[777]

sounds like the old man shouldn't have been out there in the first place - there's no fool like an old fool, the cops should have just told him to go home because one of his grand kids wanted to borrow twenty bucks.

I like how in the Floyd video it was all “let’s wait for the facts, see the whole video, wait for the autopsy, let’s dig up his personal history” and now its just people twisting what’s right in front of them on video to meet their world view. When it conflicts with what you want to believe, you all demand a smoking gun, but I’ve noticed the lengths of mental gymnastics you go through to make peace with their own worldview. It’s quite easy to spot.

I wonder if you can spot it when the MSM tries to shape the narrative, they invariably do in these cases. I'm not going to talk about the Covington teen, Mike Brown was a gentle giant that screamed "hand up" when the cop shot him. He had just robbed a convenience store, which of course the MSM said had nothing to do with the cop approaching him. And poor widdle Trayvon was just minding his own business when that white hispanic stalked him and shot him dead. He still looked around 12.

Go back even to Rodney King, the media edited out all those times when Rodney lurched towards the cops and never mentioned that there were others with King that were arrested but not touched. The jury saw it, though.

Video evidence, schmideo evidence - they still have yet to release the body cams on Floyd, wonder why?

 

[Gold Dragon]

2 Buffalo Police Officers Charged With Shoving Protester To Ground

Erie County District Attorney John Flynn announced Saturday that officers Robert McCabe and Aaron Torgalski are facing one count each of second-degree assault. Both officers have pleaded not guilty.

Flynn said the severity of the charge, which carries a penalty of up to seven years in prison, is partly because of the age difference between the protester and the men charged. In the video, the officers appear to shove and injure Martin Gugino, 75, outside of City Hall as their fellow officers walk past.

"It's black and white in the letter of the law," Flynn told a news conference. "It says right there, anyone who's a victim 65 years or older and the perpetrator is [at least] 10 years younger — it's a felony.“
...
The officers have not publicly come forward to explain the mass resignation. John Evans, president of the Buffalo Police Benevolent Association, told local NBC affiliate WGRZthe reason was "disgust because of the treatment of two of their members, who were simply executing orders."

Another local media outlet, ABC affiliate WKBW, cited a pair of unnamed members of the ERT who contradicted the union's explanation, saying the resignation "has nothing to do with us supporting" the pair of suspended officers. Rather, the resignations, according to one officer, came because the union is not "legally backing us anymore."

 

[Adonia]

2 Buffalo Police Officers Charged With Shoving Protester To Ground

You must be jumping with joy!

 

[Gold Dragon]

You must be jumping with joy!

Just providing information.

There is nothing joyful about this story.

 

[Adonia]

Just providing information.

There is nothing joyful about this story.

I had heard it earlier myself and I predict no convictions because of the video. It is a sad day when policemen doing their duty are brought up on such charges such as this.

 

[Use of Time]

I had heard it earlier myself and I predict no convictions because of the video. It is a sad day when policemen doing their duty are brought up on such charges such as this.

They served and protected him so well. It’s so sad.

 

[Adonia]

They served and protected him so well. It’s so sad.

The guy was stuck on stupid. He went into a time warp when all this stuff started and must have thought he was a young radical again. He forgot that at 75 you just cannot take the bumps and grinds that are part and parcel of protesting. He knew the score, he played the odds, and this time they didn't work out to his favor.

 

[Use of Time]

The guy was stuck on stupid. He went into a time warp when all this stuff started and must have thought he was a young radical again. He forgot that at 75 you just cannot take the bumps and grinds that are part and parcel of protesting. He knew the score, he played the odds, and this time they didn't work out to his favor.

Excusing for police assaulting a peaceful protestor. Sounds like China. Can’t make this stuff up.

 

[RighteousnessTemperance&]

I don't like the way he was handled, or pushed. But no one has said what he was up to in completely disobeying police orders. He sounds like an accident waiting to happen.

Even if they had sat him down somewhere and restrained him so he couldn't fall over, there is no guarantee someone in his condition wouldn't have suffered something to blame on the police.

I don't blame officers for resigning from handling and herding protesters. They seem to lack enough leeway in handling the situation, enough support from their superiors, and yet are the targets of these angry protests.

 

[Gold Dragon]

The bleeding was from a scalp laceration. It is very likely that the gentleman also suffered a concussion and epidural haematoma from the fall. If there was a haematoma, it sounds like it wasn’t large enough to kill him but the police officer could easily have been looking at manslaughter charges. If he was on warfarin or had uncontrolled hypertension, this could have been a very different outcome.

The officers probably could have avoided any charges if they showed some compassion, offered to help and apologized.

 

[Earth Wind and Fire]

So let’s just take away his constitutional rights.

Yes

 

[Adonia]

The bleeding was from a scalp laceration. It is very likely that the gentleman also suffered a concussion and epidural haematoma from the fall. If there was a haematoma, it sounds like it wasn’t large enough to kill him but the police officer could easily have been looking at manslaughter charges. If he was on warfarin or had uncontrolled hypertension, this could have been a very different outcome.

The officers probably could have avoided any charges if they showed some compassion, offered to help and apologized.

They did offer to help. The one cop DID STOP but his buddy told him to keep moving because that is what people do in a riot control tactical situation. Then another cop saw the man was injured and reported it into his radio. Stop lying because all of this is clear on the video.

 

[Adonia]

Excusing for police assaulting a peaceful protestor. Sounds like China. Can’t make this stuff up.

There was no violent assault. At the most he was pushed with very little force by the one cop, and the cop with the baton barely touched him. The old man stumbled as he was moving back. This was the last place a 75 year old geezer trying to relive his younger activist days should have been. Don't excuse these activists, they know exactly what could happen to them in these sort of instances.

 

[Gold Dragon]

They did offer to help. The one cop DID STOP but his buddy told him to keep moving because that is what people do in a riot control tactical situation. Then another cop saw the man was injured and reported it into his radio. Stop lying because all of this is clear on the video.

I understand they were following orders and would have been reprimanded by bosses if they stopped. But that would have been the compassionate thing to do and a reasonable superior would go easy on them given the situation. And they would have avoided charges.

 

[Gold Dragon]

Regarding why the entire squad resigned from the ERT unit. These officers said it was because the union left the two charged officers hung to dry with respect to legal representation. Not because they supported what the two officers did.

EXCLUSIVE: Two Buffalo Police ERT members say resignation was not in solidarity with suspended officers

“I don’t understand why the union said it’s a thing of solidarity. I think it sends the wrong message that ‘we’re backing our own’ and that’s not the case,” said one officer with whom we spoke.

“We quit because our union said [they] aren’t legally backing us anymore. So why would we stand on a line for the City with no legal backing if something [were to] happen? Has nothing to do with us supporting,” said another.
...
“Some of them probably resigned because they support the officer,” said another officer with whom we spoke. “But, for many of us, that’s not true.”

“The City, DA Flynn, they’re not representing those guys at all. They have to find their own lawyers, they have to come out of pocket.”

7 Eyewitness News was not able to reach PBA president John Evans to confirm this information or get a response to several officers shooting down his assertions, but we did obtain an email sent to PBA members by Evans.

It states, in part:
“In light of this, in order to maintain the sound financial structure of the PBA it will be my opinion the PBA NOT to pay for any ERT or SWAT members legal defense related to these protests going forward. This Admin in conjunction with DA John Flynn and or JP Kennedy could put a serious dent in the PBA's funds.”

“You cant ask people to do something and then when they do it and it goes bad then you just say they’re on their own,” an officer told 7 Eyewitness News.

 

[Adonia]

I understand they were following orders and would have been reprimanded by bosses if they stopped. But that would have been the compassionate thing to do and a reasonable superior would go easy on them given the situation. And they would have avoided charges.

No, they couldn't have avoided the charges. That was a political response to the baying mob to try and keep a lid on things. Two cops who were doing their duty and not being overly violent or aggressive are being thrown to the wolves. If you want to see some real violence by cops, go look at some video from the 1968 Democrat convention in Chicago.

 

[Gold Dragon]

No, they couldn't have avoided the charges. That was a political response to the baying mob to try and keep a lid on things. Two cops who were doing their duty and not being overly violent or aggressive are being thrown to the wolves. If you want to see some real violence by cops, go look at some video from the 1968 Democrat convention in Chicago.

I never said anything about them being overly violent.

It was a shove that was too hard and caused an accident involving someone obviously having a serious injury and potentially deadly because of his age.

What I said was they could have avoided charges if they showed compassion, offered to help and apologize for something that obviously was not meant to occur. Simple human decency. Yes their boss could have been mad at them but if they aren't understanding of the situation, maybe you don't want to work for them.

 

[Adonia]

What I said was they could have avoided charges if they showed compassion, offered to help and apologize for something that obviously was not meant to occur.

I disagree. None of that would have mattered, it's all politics now. You know when the killing of Mr. Floyd happened everyone in America was disgusted by the murder and rightly so - we were all on the same side.. Everyone who values our constitution had no problem with peaceful protesting either, but when the riots started that was the dividing line. Democrats would not condemn them, the major news media would not report on them truthfully and local leaders like Mayor Frey of Minneapolis and Mayor DeBlasio of new York let them run wild.

This nation is irretrievably split into 2 sides and in the end we will have only one winner. It will be either a Constitutional Republican (meaning Federalist) form of government as the Constitution mandates or a government of socialist tyranny as represented by the Antifa people and many Democrats. When it comes right down to it, I am betting that the Constitutional Republican form of government will win, the majority of Americans are not stupid enough to support the other one.

 

[Use of Time]

There was no violent assault. At the most he was pushed with very little force by the one cop, and the cop with the baton barely touched him. The old man stumbled as he was moving back. This was the last place a 75 year old geezer trying to relive his younger activist days should have been. Don't excuse these activists, they know exactly what could happen to them in these sort of instances.

They were brought in on charges comrade. If you have a problem with people protesting then move to some fascist country. It sounds like you would love it there.